Panama City

With New Year fast approaching I've realised that its been almost 3 weeks since the last blog post. How very slack of me. But I blame my British friends and litre bottles of rum that cost only £2 - a lethal combination and one that seriously dents productivity!

Well, Happy Christmas everyone! As I sit here on Margarita island, just off the coast of Venezuela, our time in Panama seems an age ago. Still, its next on the list of blogs to catch up on so I'll do my best to remember what went down!

Arriving on a bus into Panama city late one evening we found ourselves in a huge shiny mall that would rival anything the US has to offer. It had every shop you could think of plus a huge food court full of all sorts of unhealthy dishes. Another out of place bubble, this surely wasn't representative of the 'real' Panama city. And we were right. Panama city is a real contrasting mix of wealth and poverty.

After leaving the mall we realised that we had properly caught up with the backpacker trail. The place to stay was in an area called Casco Viejo and more specifically, a hostel called Luna's Castle. Unfortunately the hostel was full and all they could offer was a place on the waiting list, forcing us to stay in a nearby hotel which was neither cheap or pleasant. In fact, it was pretty bleak (as you can see from the photo) but it had air conditioning which is a real plus in a very humid Panama city.

The next day we managed to check into Luna's so all's well that ends well. It had a great atmosphere and you couldn't help but talk to someone new every time you entered the kitchen. It was also the most trusting place I've ever stayed in. A notice on the front entrance told any late arrivers to come in and kip in the theatre downstairs - oh and to feel free to use the internet too, should they wish. The beer fridge was always open and you were trusted to pay reception whenever you took one.

Casco Viejo has so much potential, and by the number of renovation projects going on, they're on their way to fulfilling it. Almost every building in the area is beautiful, the only variation being whether it has been recently fixed up or is still a shell. Police patrol the area 24/7 and at night you feel very relieved that is the case -this wonderful area of colonial buildings shouldn't be a 'no-go' area after dark.

Panama city is felt like the biggest city we've been in since Mexico. It is a vast spread of markets, hotels, tall buildings and slums. The Manhattan-like skyline was as surprising as it was impressive. But the highlight of a trip to Panama city has to be the Panama Canal. Everything about it makes your jaw drop. Its a magnificent feat of engineering and the history of its creation is fascinating. Watching these huge container and cruise liner vessels being raised and lowered by a series of locks is impressive enough, but they've also a museum to learn about the history and remember how many people died to create it.

With some of the large vessels paying up to $250,000 to cross from one ocean to another, it is obvious how important the canal is to Panama - they're in the process of building new locks to increase capacity. If they put the money in the right places, Panama city could be great. It certainly has the potential.

Cahuita to Bocas del Toro

Suffering a little from the disrupted nights sleep in Cahuita, we headed for Panama and the Bocas del Toro islands. The distance between Cahuita and the border town Sixoala is pretty small. But when you're on a bus anything can happen. And by anything, I mean travelling so slowly it'd be almost quicker to walk! The bus stopped for at least twenty minutes seeming only to watch two guys having an argument over a minor collision. What it had to do with the bus I don't know. Perhaps the driver was so bored he wanted to wait and see if there was going to be a scuffle over it!

When I was younger, going to the airport was so exciting. A combination of growing up and the long queues and security checks, these days its not such a great experience. In short; travelling overland across borders has made me appreciate going to the airport again. At the airport the certainty that you'll get to the destination relies more on the safety of the aircraft than the particular mood of the immigration official. You may get asked a few questions (especially when entering the States) but unless you've a shady history you'll be fine.

We arrived at Sixoala, got our stamps out of Costa Rica and walked over the railway bridge into Panama. There was no security presence to speak of. I've come to find border crossings the most surreal experiences. You're crossing into a country and the only thing to make you stop and go through the official channels is fear of getting a fine somewhere else down the line. Not exactly a deterrent for hardened criminals!

This particular border had a list of criteria from being able to prove your economic credentials to having a plane ticket out of the country. We got through OK by showing our onward flight details - only trouble is they were on the laptop which I booted up and showed to the official through the window. Being a strange situation, even he found the funny side! We didn't have to pay any fees either which was  a nice surprise.

Onward we took a taxi (interrupted by a street protest of some kind) and then a boat 30 mins across to Isla Colon and the town of Bocas del Toro. We passed a huge vessel loading up bananas bound for Europe - bananas are a hardy fruit.

I'm never sure if I can divorce myself from feelings about a hotel or hostel from the actual town itself. On this occasion, the woman running the guesthouse was so strange I think it definitely had a negative impact on my view of the town. She talked and moved so slowly and kept telling me about people who try to murder her dogs - its not going to make you feel at home. OK this was a freebie, so I shouldn't complain, but she gave the whole place a very creepy feel. Add to that the safety paranoia I was suffering from Cahuita, I didn't exactly feel relaxed.

We had a nice time in Bocas though. The place has plenty of wildlife including cool coloured crabs, and although we were not there long enough to properly explore, we had a good time there. With our impending date with friends in Colombia looming, we had to make tracks!

Cahuita - Fright Night!

We arrived in Cahuita on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica after another long day of travelling, but at least it was a straightforward day. The bus from Santa Elena to San Jose took only four hours, and the bus to Cahuita three and a half. Nothing really!

Cahuita follows a familiar trait with places on the Caribbean side of Central America. The place is worn out and shabby but the vibe is a relaxed one. It has its fair share of dodgy characters loitering the way they do, but nothing too threatening. Most just seem a little messed up. And then of course, should any stranger strike up a conversation it’s more to ask if you want any drugs rather than a polite chat!

We settled in at a place called Jenny’s Cabinas, which is right by the sea and after dinner, joined the German girls we met on the bus for a few drinks at the only bar in town.

The next day we went to Cahuita National Park, which happens to be on the beach! And when you’re in need of a relaxing day, but still want to go see things, it is the perfect combination. The park itself starts just on the edge of town and there is a visitor centre and some rope across the beach to show where the park starts. You can walk many a kilometre, or you can find a nice spot and sit and watch the nature around you. We saw monkeys in the trees above us, more crabs than you could count and plenty of birds. Not bad when you’re just sitting on the sand!

Our second night in Cahuita was a little different. At two in the morning we awoke to the loudest and most frightening scream I think I’ve ever heard. The screaming lasted a good while and with the scrambling noise coming from outside, I knew it wasn’t just someone waking from a bad dream. The first floor rooms at Jenny’s each have a balcony and I went out onto ours to see what was going on. Eventually the two girls staying next door came out onto their balcony to say that someone had just tried to break into their room. By this time everyone in the place was outside wondering what had happened, but despite the supposed guard on patrol (he was probably asleep) and Jenny’s not so alert dogs, the intruder had escaped.

With the dodgy types hanging around Cahuita and the relatively flimsy locks, it was no surprise that the girls left the balcony light on and didn’t go to sleep again that night. It was only because one of them was already awake when the intruder appeared at the window the first time that she screamed the house down and scared him off. Good for her. It certainly worked!

I slept with one eye open the rest of the night. It seemed perfectly possible that another attempt would be made to break in that night. Who knows what is going through the mind of a desperate addict. And that’s who we were dealing with, I had made up my mind!

I spent the next couple of days being pretty paranoid and overly security conscious. It makes you realise how easily someone could break into some of the places you stay. But most towns haven’t had that air about them, or at least I haven’t noticed it before.

Monteverde and Santa Elena

Costa Rica is a place of contrast. Leaving the hot and humid Pacific side, we travelled to the Northwest highlands and a region called Monteverde. The altitude here makes for a pleasant climate. Warm in the sun, but a little chilly at night, I enjoyed the chance to wear jeans, shoes and socks!

We timed our visit to Santa Elena very well. The day we arrived there was a Christmas festival taking place. By evening the streets were lined with people and a procession of bands, dancing girls wearing santa hats, and floats went through. What with it being a little chilly, you could actually get into the Christmas spirit!

One of the main attractions of the area is the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. In complete contrast to our experience at Ometepe, we had an excellent guide called Adriano. He knew every detail of the forest, from the smallest orchid flower in the world, to knowing where to find birds high up in the trees. He had a great eye for it and we managed to see the Quetzales bird, a prize everyone in the reserve looks for.

At the end of the walking tour, you have the opportunity to get close to dozens of Humming birds. I took hundreds of pictures while they stuck their long beaks into the suspended feeders - later having to sort through them all! You could sit on a bench and watch them for hours. It was magnificent!

For breakfast many Cara Blancas joined us - the entertaining white faced monkeys watched us eat from the trees outside and waited for the odd banana to be passed out the window. It was an added feature to an already lovely hotel - the staff must feed them every day!

Helped by the fact that we stayed at one of the nicest places in town, I wish we could have stayed in Santa Elena longer.

Montezuma and the Dragon Lady

The journey to Costa Rica was probably one of the toughest yet. In fact it turned out to be sixteen hours of solid travelling which involved four different buses, a taxi and a ferry. The distance between San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua and Montezuma in Costa Rica isn’t vast and a whole day is plenty, even allowing some slack for border crossings.

Unfortunately all that slack was used up at the Costa Rica border, and then some! All of Nicaragua, it seemed, had decided to cross into Costa Rica that very morning. Couple that with a seriously slow immigration system and you’re looking at a long wait. All we needed was a stamp in our passports, but the Costa Rican immigration has gone all high-tech. They’ve done away with stamps employing the use of computers to print a stamp in your passport instead. Well that’s just superb! It onlt takes about twenty times longer! So this resulted in a queue that snaked around the outside of the building with everyone standing in the mud and rain.

And I’d like to make another point. The only thing worse than standing in a long queue that is not moving, is watching people push in further ahead. And they got away with it, banking on the fact that people out here do not like confrontation. It was frustrating but you cannot police the queue, I told myself. Instead, I thought, I’ll just guard the space in front of us and make sure we stay behind the same people we were behind at the start. A little while later a man appeared, slowly easing his way into the small space in front of us. I pointed out where the queue actually starts and he said he was holding the place for his wife. His wife wasn’t in front of us earlier, I told him and he just smiled in an embarrassed manor. He asked the couple in front to say that he was with them, and they did! Yeah thanks. I wasn’t having that and I told him that we were behind this couple from the start, and that was how it was going to stay. In the end, my persistence won over his cheekiness and he disappeared off into the crowd, allowing my blood to come off the boil and returning to a simmer!

The three hour delay at the border didn’t help progress, and nor did the bus to Puntarenas, which went incredibly slowly – the bus scheduled an hour behind actually caught up with ours! But, by the skin of our teeth, we were on schedule for the last ferry to Paquera. In fact, the schedule had changed and we were two hours early for the last ferry at 8pm.

At least we hadn’t missed the last ferry, but at this rate, we wouldn’t arrive at the hotel until 11pm. While in a café we quickly emailed the hotel to let them know.

After the one and a half hour journey across to the peninsula we bought tickets for the last bus going to Montezuma. Job almost done, or so we thought. The bus drove on and on, until road turned into bumpy track and then track started coming to an end. It was now 11.30pm, and feeling weary, we asked the driver where we were. Far from Montezuma, he answered. We were apparently supposed to change buses at Cobano. How we were supposed to know that, I really don’t know. I lost my temper and told him what I thought – all in Spanish, I surprised myself!

He called a taxi (the very least he could have done) and for a whopping $40, it took us back the way we came and then to our hotel in Montezuma. It was now just past midnight, and the hotel had shut up shop. With no choice (other than sleeping rough) we rang the bell and, lucky old us, awoke the dragon! It was time to put the cherry on the cake of ill fortune!

A woman (it turned out to be the owner) appeared on the balcony, throwing a barrage of swear words our way, in a German accent. Welcome to Hotel Horizontes! After having lit a cigarette, she came down and continued the barrage telling us how rude we were turning up at this hour. The taxi driver hung around to see if he would get another extortionate fair out of us – and in doing so left his engine on, which infuriated her further!

Usually I wouldn’t have taken such abuse, but there really wasn’t much choice in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. With our appologies for getting her out of bed (it wasn’t that late, for heavens sake!) she eventually thawed a little and let us in, though maintaining that our travel woes were all our own fault. Sometimes its funny the people who choose to go into hospitality!

Montezuma itself is a small overpriced beach town. It does have some nice beaches and waterfalls a little inland that feed into the sea. There are plenty of adventure filled trips you can take, just bring plenty of dollars!

Just one tip; avoid the Dragon Lady of Hotel Horizontes and in doing so, you’ll avoid staying in a place inconveniently located 1kM up a very steep hill from the town.

San Juan del Sur - Nicaragua

Making our way from Ometepe we headed for Rivas bus station to get a bus to San Juan del Sur. Getting a bus from a bus station is a pretty normal thing to do. But when you have a crowd of taxi drivers telling you a variety of things like the bus doesn't leave for hours, or it takes many hours to get there, you almost start to think you're doing something abnormal! And my disinterested looks and short firm answers they took for haggling. Their price must have halved and halved again, but what they didn't seem to understand was that its not a long journey and we really weren't in a rush.

Not trusting what a taxi driver says to you seems to be a universally sound approach to me. Its a shame, because occasionally they may have something useful and truthful to say. I wonder where they would rank in a top ten of most hated professions? They must be up there with estate agents!

So, half an hour later we were on our bus and heading for San Juan, and about an hour later we were there. All at half the cost of the lowest taxi driver offer. Satisfying!

Yet again our 'Updated Annually' guide book sold us a dummy. The very appealingly described budget hostel turned out to be $38 a night. Resisting the temptation to throw the book in the bin, we went on our usual search and found a place called Nina's Guesthouse. Run by Nina herself (unlike Bob who runs Jerry's Pizza next door!) it was a delight of a place to stay, made all the more delightful by Nina who never once stopped smiling - even when we gave her our mud-caked volcano clothes!

San Juan del Sur is a real gem of a place. Many travellers go in search of a great new place off the beaten track, find it and then bemoan the fact that it has become too commercial or touristy. It all sounds like a shame, but for who? The backpacker who doesn't like change? Boo hoo. Perhaps done in the right way, a place can change for the better while giving local people an opportunity to better themselves in a third world country. Well, that's how I want to look at San Juan del Sur, anyway. Apparently not so long ago it used to be a quiet fishing village, but now it is starting to realise its potential as a popular seaside tourist spot.

Perhaps we caught it at the right time. There is a high rise development under construction (they've tried to hide it next to the big hill) but apart from that it still has a small town feel. There is a good selection of restaurants and bars, but not too many, and they all have a wooden beach hut look - no neon signs in sight!

The best part about the place is the beach, with its light fine sand and shallow waters set in a semi-circular cove. The waves are big enough to be fun, and the sunsets are just about perfect.
Oh, and while you're catching the sunset, grab a beer for a dollar. Now that's perfection!